Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Unsent correspondence, translated to English, and addressed only to My Truth:
I made a mistake, and it might cost me everything.
MALACH
S’lach’s fury has no end.
And I’m his outlet for all of it.
Trapped again in the white box with glaring lights, I take everything he throws at me and maintain my story. No, I didn’t lie about Elodius. Of course we’re not working together—I’ve never even met him. Something must have changed between the time of judgment and when he cast his vote.
I’m not sure if S’lach believes me or not, but I’m beginning to think it doesn’t matter. He’s furious. He needs to punish someone. And I’m easier to get to than Elodius.
Spittle flies from his mouth as he screams at me, a vein in his temple throbbing beneath his ruddy skin. “Are you stupid enough to lie to me, Malach?”
I don’t answer because I can’t. He’s activated his silence rune, and the burn from the bloody brand is setting my whole body on fire. I bite down until I taste blood; it doesn’t help.
S’lach drives a boot into my ribs. Something cracks.
I swing from the restraints, struggling to fill my lungs with air.
“Why doesn’t she come?” S’lach snarls. “Celine knows I have you; she should be here by now.”
Don’t look at Lyklan. The thought is as sharp as the pain.
He stands in the corner, unmoving, a silent witness to S’lach’s torture.
At first, I wondered why S’lach wanted him here for this, then I realized.
It’s a warning. S’lach motivates through fear.
In his mind, the best way to keep someone in line is to show them the full extent of his depravity and hold it over their head.
Perhaps that works on some, but I don’t think it’s working on my guardian.
Lyklan shows no emotion over my beating, but I’m not stupid enough to believe he feels nothing. He’s the kind of varek who prefers to avoid violence unless it’s absolutely necessary.
I wish he weren’t here for this. If I can’t be with her, I’d rather be alone.
Celine. My truth. I long for her with every labored breath, but I don’t regret telling Lyklan to lock her out.
She’ll be safe from S’lach, and I take comfort in that, even knowing she won’t forgive my betrayal. If she ever decides to come back, she won’t be able to. It’s the best I can do. I’m running out of options, and my body will eventually give out.
S’lach turns to Lyklan and sneers. “Tell me, guardian, where is my daughter? Does she still avoid her home out of cowardice?”
“She has not returned to the Fringes. Your assassins are watching her apartment, workplace, and the homes of her associates. There’s been no sign of her.”
S’lach’s dingy wings quiver. “The demon,” he hisses. “My sources tell me he belongs to an important family. She must be hiding with him. If the veydra had killed those pathetic leeches as instructed, she wouldn’t have anywhere to go.”
He speaks of Celine and her capabilities as if they’re negligible.
He doesn’t understand his daughter at all.
She’s strong in a way he cannot fathom. If he killed everyone she’s ever known and dropped her somewhere she’d never been before, she would adapt to survive.
With time, she would build a life. One with purpose beyond the grasping pursuit of power and the meaningless subjugation of others.
His brown eyes dig into me, sharp as knives, as he plots his next move.
When he grins, a strange numbness passes over me.
“My daughter lacks incentive,” S’lach says. “The singular peculiarity of her motivations . . . Sometimes, even I forget. Tomorrow, we’ll prod her into action.” He snaps his fingers at Lyklan. “Make sure he doesn’t die.”
The door slams behind him, and I sag in my shackles as the burning of his rune eases incrementally the further away he gets.
Lyklan waits a full minute before rushing to my side and speaking in my family dialect. “He’ll kill you, Malach. There’s no surviving this.”
I try to answer, but S’lach’s word is still in effect. I’m too weak to open my mouth.
Lyklan’s hands shake as he lifts me, easing the agonizing pressure on my wrists. “I won’t let you die. I made vows to protect you.”
My vision swims, and I blink several times in my attempt to focus on his face.
He has a frenzied gleam in his eyes that reminds me of Celine when she’s about to make a risky move.
I swallow, the dry, painful ache in my throat joining all the others.
It seems living in the Fringes changed my guardian as much as it changed me.
Lyklan nods slowly, as if I’ve already agreed to whatever he’s planning.
“I’ll be back,” he says, easing me down from the ceiling hook so I can rest against the wall. “I’ll be back, Malach, I swear it.”
Then I’m alone again with only the pain and searing light for company.